Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Homeschool Planning

So I have been working on my homeschool lesson plans for the upcoming school year all summer. I am still not done.  And I am planning for only three students!

To begin my planning process, I first had to clean out my entire schoolroom. I cleaned every single cabinet, drawer, shelf, closet, etc.  And this led to my wanting to clean and and reorganize every single bookshelf/bookcase in our house.  I did that!  I am so happy with the finished product. I grouped like books together in various spots in our home.  I cleared out two shelves of books in one of my schoolroom closets, and moved those books to the built-in bookshelves upstairs.  That gave me much needed room in the closet for teacher supplies, binders, current school resources, etc. As I went through the hundreds of books, I found many, many duplicate titles.  I kept all the duplicates, and I can share them with my children when they leave home.

After I got everything in order I began making a school supply list.  It was actually fairly short.  I think I have enough markers, pens, spiral bound notebooks, and glue sticks to furnish an entire elementary classroom. (Clearly, I am an over buyer in certain products!) Next I made a list of schoolbooks that I needed for each child.  It wasn't too long of a list either.  I ordered everything, and all has arrived except for my final (second!) Sonlight order.

I bought new crates for the children's schoolbooks and supplies and have put all their new school things in there.  I typed up their daily work checklists, and I think I have almost everything ready to go.  I am just finalizing my daily schedule.  When my Sonlight comes in, I will need to spend some time putting the new Instructor's Guide in my binder, sorting out the books, and putting stickers on them.  The last big planning task I have is mapping out my English IV class plans.  This is a senior level English class for Clay and five other twelfth graders.

About the Sonlight.....Lynn, Leanna, and I are taking a short break from our Sonlight studies this August-November to study the presidents, the election process, and our American Government.  I am also going to finish covering the 50 states with Leah and Sam.  Beginning November 7, I will start Sonlight Core F.  My original plan was to fly through this Core, cutting books here and there and still completing the Core by the end of May.  I spent several hours culling the books and typing a 100 day plan.  But I still wasn't satisfied.  I couldn't figure out how to fit in the books and content that I wanted to cover, and I also wanted to add some of the newer Core F books.  I first used Core F 6 years ago, and Sonlight has revised this Core since then.  Last weekend I had a new idea!  I decided I was not in a race to complete this Core. In fact, I decided to order the newer Instructor's Guide (at half-price since it was a reorder!) and the newer Core F books.  I am so excited!  I really liked this Core, and I feel so much better going through it at the intended pace. We will just work on it November-May, and pick up where ended the next school year.

I am starting school later than I have in years.  I will be having various houseguests (college students) during most of August, and then I will be driving Julie (Olivia has to go a week early for a class) to school later in the month, and staying there a few days. So, I have set August 26 as our first day of school.  That leaves me exactly one month to get everything ready.  Actually, I want to have everything ready before the guests start arriving.  :)

I'll share our curricula for next year and an outline of our daily plans as soon as I get everything ready.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Roan. I'm curious about the "election/government". It appears you'll be doing this during an approximate 2 month period so I have some questions: (1) What resources are you going to use? (2) "how" will it be scheduled (so many hours per week for "x" weeks, etc.) Also (3) what ages/grades will this be for and, if it's a range, will they all be doing the same thing?
    I'm very interested in covering this "topic" with my children also during this election season (elementary age). Thanks!

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    1. I hope to blog about our study. My children doing this study are ages 10 and 12. Lynn's children participating are 7, 12, and 13, and Leanna's are 7, 10, 11, and 13. I think we all are spending differing amounts of time each day and days each week. I am spending about 30 minutes to 1 hour, 4 days a week. Some days I am breaking this into two sessions, and some days we do it all at once. All age children are doing the same thing.

      I hope to share more details soon. (My books are not nearby, so I cannot share the titles right now). :)

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  2. I have a love-hate relationship with your blog. ;) I always feel so inadequate! ;) But I love you. You are truly a Proverbs 17:27 sister for me.

    I'm working on scheduling this week too - and for the final book orders to arrive. Do you still school when your college girls come home? When I mapped out the calendars and included Reagan's schedule, I saw that he gets home before we've finished our # of weeks for the semester. I know the younger two will be so excited he's home - me too. I hate to have a week or two of school left.

    Do you squeeze it all in between their breaks or keep going when they come home?

    Thank you friend. We need to be sure to plan some lunch meets for us and our children into our schedules.

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  3. Very interesting to read your process. I'm a first time homeschool mom and curious to learn what works for other homeschool families.

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